Industry insiders are predicting a hands-off approach to online sports betting and iGaming by President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. If so, the recently proposed SAFE Bet Act will likely fail to gain any legislative traction.
Cat’s Out of the Bag
In Donald Trump’s previous administration, mobile sports betting in the United States was in its infancy, and his attorney general’s office, like Obama’s before him, argued that the Wire Act of 1961 expanded beyond simply sports betting. This sent a chill through the gaming industry and put online lotteries, online poker, and mobile casino gambling on notice.
However, a federal court judge ruled in 2021 that the Wire Act pertained only to intrastate sportsbooks. Moreover, one of the main drivers of opposing online sports betting was casino magnate and major Trump donor, Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands and several land-based casinos whose U.S. properties have since been sold after his death in 2021.
With that favorable court ruling and Adelson’s widow, Miriam, focused on her recent purchase of the Dallas Mavericks and bringing a new arena/casino resort to the Dallas Metroplex, that pushback has evaporated. Moreover, much has happened between 2016 and 2024 with the digital gaming realm in the US and the explosion in popularity it has gained.
Things Have Changed
States now enjoy new revenue streams from mobile sports betting and iCasino gambling, bringing in tens of millions of dollars, if not more. Former Trump advisor Sam Nunberg said, “The cat’s out of the bag” vis-à-vis sports betting in the U.S.
“There will never be a federal ban,” Nunberg said. “The states are getting too much revenue from it.”
Nunberg referenced his recent appearance on the “Let’s Go!” podcast hosted by Jim Gray and Bill Belichick. “Jim Gray’s first question (to me) was (about) sports gambling, and Trump’s view of it was, ‘There’s always going to be sports gambling, and there’s always going to be corruption. It is what it is. It’s very difficult to monitor.’ So, I just don’t see sports gambling going anywhere. I don’t think he’s (Trump) in the business of regulating gambling from his past business experience.”
A SAFE Bet to Fail
The Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet, aka SAFE Bet Act, was introduced by two Democrats, US Representative Paul Tonko of New York and Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, whose purpose would be to enact federal guidelines on mobile sportsbooks and iGaming platforms.
Regulations and the bodies that govern them have been the province of state agencies without federal interference.
“This relationship between the gambling industry and sports has reached intolerably dangerous levels, and it’s well past time for Congress to just step up and make a difference,” said Representative Paul Tonko.
Proposed Changes
Some of the hallmarks of the proposed legislation are banning sports betting during live sports events and limiting deposits to five during a 24-hour period. It also proposes to ban sports betting sites from using artificial intelligence to track a player’s gambling habits, which would be used to tailor promotions that would more likely appeal to that player based on their wagering history.
The SAFE Bet Act would alter that landscape, and the majority of stakeholders believe it’s a solution without a problem. Chris Cylke, the American Gaming Association’s senior vice president of government relations, called the proposal a “slap in the face” to state regulatory agencies and platform providers who have worked together and spent countless hours crafting responsible gaming resources and protocols.
Representative Dina Titus, D-Nev., called the SAFE Bet Act “outdated” and “unwarranted.”
And now that Donald Trump, a former casino owner himself, is returning to office, it is unlikely the SAFE Bet Act will see the light of day.
